JORDAN BAYNE, an award-winning, internationally exhibited filmmaker and actor, is no stranger to working with A-list talent. Her career began acting with Golden Globe winner Martin Sheen in A STRANGER IN THE KINGDOM. Her television career started with Showtime’s Poltergeist: The Legacy, and she has also been seen on the critically acclaimed Law & Order. Here, we discuss her latest work, a powerful motion picture which takes viewers on a harrowing emotional journey through the complexities of intimate partner valence, imploring us to open our eyes to the far often overlooked silent epidemic of domestic violence.
Jordan, how did you get into NFTs?
I’ve been in crypto for a while and I’ve known about NFTs since 2017 with the Crypto Kitties, but I didn’t pay much attention until February 2021 when I saw the potential for filmmakers and artists and I literally was all in.
You have a rich history in filmmaking. How do you think that film will make the leap into NFTs?
I’ve been working in independent film for a while. I started out in the studio system as an actor, but then moved quickly to independent film because they were offering more complex stories for women.
This is a very interesting, very complicated question and there’s no answer yet. I believe this is a multi-pronged path from what I have witnessed as founder of the NFT Filmmaker Squad back in March 2021, hosting trailblazing filmmakers who have each had a unique entry and path into minting their projects as NFTs. We are learning from one another, there is no one person single handedly making a difference, it is a community effort. Filmmakers are using tokens, photos, clips to crowd fund features, they are minting clips, scenes, music videos. However, for me I knew I needed it to be my voice, I wanted to show that we could create meaningful stories on the Blockchain. So I knew I had to create a full story, a story with a beginning, middle and end which adhered to the technical limitations filmmakers currently face with platforms.
Film is very native to how we consume NFTs. The very first films were projected onto a screen. Then they were piped into a television set. When the Internet arrived we began streaming onto our screens. So, for me this is a very organic move towards minting on the blockchain, creating distribution models that create revenue streams that go directly to the creator and taking it away from the content economy of YouTube, Vimeo and other Web2 platforms who made money off the backs of creators/filmmakers while the artists barely made a sustainable living.
Now it is not easy to create movie magic. It takes a team. So, that is a barrier of entry for some filmmakers who want to create cinematic images. You need a crew, and a crew needs to be paid a sustainable living. So, we have a lot of challenges as filmmakers that those of us pioneering this space are experiencing and working out. But, in the end, currently it is work that is a high ticket item because it is a high expense item to make. We need to find ways to mitigate that without compromising the financial opportunity for the creators or compromise the work. This has been the tightrope that independent filmmakers have walked for decades. It’s important because the whole ethos of Web3 is this idea that we as creators can have not only sustainable livings, but actually that we can thrive in an equitable environment and that means removing the gatekeepers and the parasites that are sucking money off the creators so the currency exchange comes directly to the creators.
Maybe in 2022 we will see a feature film minted on the blockchain, on a platform that is capable of giving the film the file size it needs to stream seamlessly, without needing to compress it so insanely as to compromise the integrity of the film. Maybe we will see some sort of distribution tokenization or something like that so that if someone like Samsung or another one of these major Web2 players wants to stream your minted film, they have to pay directly to the creator some sort of distribution fee to stream. These are things that are being pioneered right now.
You also have worked hard to elevate women in the space. Why do women need elevating?
For me it’s obvious, whenever the world started and there was a man and a woman that’s when the woman began to be oppressed, and that has not stopped. So, I do think we need to elevate women into the positions that we deserve. We are 50% of the population. Can you imagine if we had 50% of the wealth in the world? It would be a very different world. If you break it down you realize that economic oppression is a huge part of the patriarcal, I would go as far as to say, the white supremist ideology. Economic power is power beyond the greenback, it is currency for so many things. Women are a marginalized community, but then black women, BIPOC, queer, indigenous, disabled… even more so… Marginalized communities I believe need to be elevated and amplified. Web3 offers equitability and a potential redistribution of wealth and it’s my responsibility if I have more privilege than some to make sure that women and other underrepresented communities are getting the opportunity to share in the wealth. So, whatever I might be able to do in my small way I will do.
What was the impetus behind setting up that room?
*The impetus for setting up Elevating Women in the NFT Space back in March 2021 was in response to the NFT rooms in Clubhouse that were absolutely dominated by white cis gendered heterosexual dude bros. I felt that women’s voices were being trampled, not listened to, and in fact was mirroring too much of the existing social patriarchal system. Knowing the potential of NFTs and Web3 I was not willing to participate in that paradigm. I wanted a room where women could come in, they could share, they could learn to get on their feet and find their voices, and speak as much as they needed and be heard, be seen. I’m super proud of the work that was done early on in that CH room and how we contributed in amplifying women and helping women find their voices so they could go into the other spaces and rooms with confidence on the stages.
RED FLAGs — How did this project come to you? Was the music first or the film first?
The opportunity for a project came to me through the wonderful Margaret Corvid, an artist, poet and writer in the NFT space. She had discovered this phenomenal singer/songwriter Aliah Sheffield and wanted to find someone that could create an audio/visual. I took a listen to several of her songs and Red Flags is the one that resonated with me. I knew I had a story that I wanted to tell.
Talk to us about the story behind the piece
The script story… when I heard the demo of Red Flags I connected with it really deeply, not because I had ever experienced intimate partner violence but because I knew what it was like to be in love with a person that couldn’t love me the way I needed to be loved and I also knew what it was like to be love bombed, which is a typical narcissist tactic that empaths like myself find in many types of relationships. I knew I didn’t want to romanticize this type of relationship either, so I decided to take that idea of ignoring the red flags and change the narrative. I did that in writing a proper script.
I knew I wanted to explore the moment, that heart wrenching knowing, the moment of courage to break the cycle. I know it’s complex and very confusing, especially if you’re in love with someone and you don’t understand why or how it could be happening. I think that moment of courage can be very fleeting, so to be able to act on that moment of courage especially in the face of the person that you love who is authentically in despair over their actions, it’s a very easy cycle to fall back into and to want the person who hurt you to heal you. There is a moment in the motion picture that reflects that dynamic, it is heartbreaking. You see their humanity thanks to the gorgeous, brave work of Isi LaBorde and Gabriel Furman.
While I believe that this subject matter needs to be seen, in an unflinching way, to be able to create dialogue around it, it was very important for me as it is in all my work, that there was some sort of transformation and hope. It was important to have our protagonist love herself more, to have the power to walk away, to break the cycle.
Working with actors to portray something so moving and powerful, what was the process of getting the actors to identify with these characters and the story?
I had the great privilege of working with two extraordinary actors. When you have that, the smartest thing to do as a director is get out of their way and trust their brilliance. Knowing when to leave an actor alone is just as important as knowing how to give them direction.
I don’t believe in rehearsal for a film. I want to capture the moment, the real moment, the real discovery by the actor. With Isi and Gabriel, I had conversations with them about what I was looking for in those characters, what I was looking for in their love as a couple, and what I was looking for as far as their humanity. I feel the most important thing is that they trusted me and I trusted them. With actors like these, every take was outstanding so then comes the arduous task of deciding which ones fit in the telling of this story, which is the exciting and difficult part when I edit my films because they gave so much in every take.
Talk about your directing style. How would you describe it?
For me it’s important that the people around me understand my vision, so I do have conversations about the emotional arc of the story, the emotional beats, especially with the cinematographer, the production designer and the actors. I’ve been called many times an actor’s director because I know the language of actors and I know how to bring the best out of them. It’s important to me to find the right look of the film, using the right lens, choosing when and how to move the camera or not, framing the composition, knowing how to match the music, because everything needs to be invisible but serving the emotional arc of the story of the motion picture.
What kind of atmosphere ddi you create on the set?
I made sure the whole crew understood the delicate nature of the work we would be doing and how we had to protect the cast. It was an incredible day, very efficient, very respectful. It was a very happy set because everyone knew we were telling an important story and everyone was in awe of what the actors were doing, but also in the way we were baking in the look with the lighting and production design. It was clear that this was special, and it was made more special by the absolute love and commitment of every member of the crew which was predominantly women, nonbinary, LGBTQIA and BIPOC.
Was this shot during the pandemic? Talk about how that affected the shoot.
This was shot during the pandemic. We have Covid protocols including testing prior to the shoot and masks during the shoot. I only hired fully vaccinated cast and crew because my priority was to protect the actors who would need to unmask for the scenes.
Tell us about the crew you assembled for the shoot.
My crew is extraordinary. There are too many to mention but a few of the keys… Jared Roybal is the Cinematographer — We have a really good rapport and understanding. He really wants to achieve the director’s vision, and for me especially as a woman who is directing, it’s so lovely to find a colleague who doesn’t try to push his voice on mine. Jared’s voice is in there because ultimately my voice is being interpreted by him as he operates the camera, but he really wants to serve the story and the director’s vision and to me that is the mark of a true cinematographer. Keriann Corriea is the Production Designer and Wardrobe. She’s ridiculously talented and she is wonderful to have on set. Kelly Lee is my hair and make up. We have worked together several times, I met her as an actor first when she was doing my makeup and I just really love her presence and her attention to detail. She does beautiful work. I had one post production crew Jason Charnick— Post Production Supervisor, who is an absolute joy to work with. He’s kind, generous and a great problem solver. Then there is Trish Reda… Artist Rep, marketing genius and all round exceptional human being. I’m blessed.
What is it that you want the user to feel while watching RED FLAGs?
First of all, a subject like intimate partner violence, or domestic violence is a silent epidemic. I believe we need to tell stories that shed light on these issues that society hides in the shadows and create meaningful dialogue around it. If we don’t then those who are left in the shadows are destroyed by shame, and the oppressors win because they are not held accountable for their abuse.
Also, when we see people that we consider damaged or broken in society, my hope is that we don’t toss them away, that we don’t discard them because damaged people can heal and damaged people can become productive members of society, and of course just simply being human beings, they have value. So it’s important to me that we take a look at these human beings and see past their damage, both of them, we don’t know what’s going to happen to him. He may come out of this transformed as well.
I profoundly hope even one person sees this and it inspires the courage to break the cycle.
So, these are some of what I would like people to take away from this, and that there’s hope, that there’s always hope.
Is there a message for men here? What about for women?
Not in particular. There are men who suffered domestic violence and intimate partner violence as well. In this story I feel like it’s important to see them both as human beings, both of them are playing into their role in this toxic cycle until she finally breaks it. If there is a message, it’s found in the complex dynamics of these relationships, the courage to break the cycle and on a greater note, how society fails people living in the shadows.
Where and when will the piece? Give us all the details!
The work will be minted on Zora on January 26th. The Zora platform has been the most welcoming to video files and for a filmmaker like myself who works deeply on the cinematic experience I need the biggest file size offered without streaming issues and Zora’s protocol offers that.
Who are you hoping collects this work?
This is a 1:1 . It’s a historic piece. It’s a social impact piece. It’s a truly cinematic piece. In an ecosystem that is currently obsessed with PFP generative projects, finding a collector for this work affirms for any artist out there creating deep, profound, meaningful work that there are collectors who recognize, value and understand intrinsically the significance of telling stories like this one.
What is your ultimate vision for how film will be created and distributed as NFTs?
Impossible question. We are so early. The potential seems so vast. I hope that we will have platforms that can stream appropriate file sizes for filmmakers, a Web3 NFT native “Netflix”, but instead of the producers and distributor making all of the money, the majority of the money will go back to the creators.
What makes NFTs perfect for independent filmmakers?
Again, difficult to answer fully, but to riff on a couple… Independent filmmakers are about community. We can create new opportunities for engagement with the audience. Rather than doing one-off crowd funding using the archaic Kickstarter method, we can be creating offerings with utility that benefit the filmmakers and the community. Effectively being a distribution partner. Also, if you buy an NFT 1:1 motion picture, you can hold onto it, or if you want to put it on the secondary market, you as the buyer can now sell that asset making money and the creator gets to make a percentage on the secondary market. So, you could have Investors who are interested in the profit-making opportunity, but also those who are interested in supporting the creative direction of the filmmaker. Then there is the significant opportunity to remove the gatekeepers. To own everything, to earn passive income in the future on your creations/films.
What’s next for you in the NFT space?
*I have two feature films and a series that I have packaged with incredible talent, that I would like to utilize the blockchain, and NFTs for this year. It’s the latent potential of this space that I want to bring to life and that means continuing to be a trailblazer. In tandem with that I want to keep building and scaling the NFT Filmmaker Squad as a community that holds to the ethos of Web3 and creates a foundation for other filmmakers coming into the space to build upon, and find support in the community. Then for those who want to go deep and long, the maverickDAO will be available soon, and again, another opportunity to build a new ecosystem, one that is not built on the traditional hierarchy, but one that takes advantage of decentralization and all that it has to offer us now, and hopefully in the future.